Cannondale Chairside Chats: Ivan Basso (part three)

The past two days, G4 has had the pleasure of chatting to Cannondale Pro Cycling Giro d’Italia team leader, Ivan Basso. We’ve chatted about Ivan’s role on the team, his love of the sport and his hopes for this Giro. Now we get up close and personal.

G4: Tell me about your family blueberry farm.

IB: That’s for my future. It’s building slowly and becoming bigger and bigger. One of my grandfathers started blueberry farming and I wanted to restart it again; going back to my roots. Of course, it’s not my work for now, I just take care of it. It’s on my farm and it’s something for the future and it involves also the local community.

G4: We’ve had a lot of rain this winter has it affected the crop?

IB: Rain hasn’t been too bad for the blueberries but, in any event, we have taken care of them and protected them from the rain.

G4: How do you sell the berries?

IB: We sell the best, freshly picked, directly from the farm at a small market nearby so that we’re not adding to the carbon footprint or adding further costs. We want to make the berries affordable which is particularly important during the current economic problems. The second class berries we turn into jam and juice. But most of them go straight to market.

G4: One of the toughest things about being a professional cyclist is the amount of time you spend away from home and your family. How many children do you have? I thought it was three but Petra said four.

Ivan with his kids (image: Media-24)
Ivan with his kids (image: Media-24)

IB: I have three children but we would like to have another one. Yes, it’s difficult spending time away from the family but it’s my job. It’s a sacrifice for me and my family, but everybody understands, particularly my wife.

G4: An understanding wife is very important but it must be lovely for your family to watch you race either live or on the television.

IB: Yes, my kids are young, aged 11, 7 and 3. The two older ones of course understand my job and they understand why I have to make this sacrifice. The little one not so much but…. he’s starting to.

G4: What do you do to relax when you’re away from home?

Reflective before the Giro start (image: Cannondale)
Reflective before the Giro start (image: Cannondale)

IB: It depends. I like to sleep, read a book, call my wife. Sometimes I just like to relax in a darkened room or maybe chat to my room-mate.

G4: So you’re not part of Daniele Ratto’s PlayStation league?

IB: (Laughs) You have to remember they’re 15 year’s younger than me; the age gap sometimes is too big. I like to just relax or reflect on things in my free time. The digital stuff it’s nice but sometimes I think it’s too much, it’s too intrusive.

G4: It’s definitely a double-edged sword and well worth switching off from time to time.

Thank you for your time Ivan and everyone at G4 will be watching you and the rest of the team at the Giro d’Italia in our G4 Cannondale Giro t-shirts.

Links: Part one, Part two, G4 Giro T-shirt

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